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Quarterly Essay: Bad News – Murdoch’s ‘Australian’ and the Shaping of the Nation

When

Event Status

This year has seen unprecedented scrutiny of Rupert Murdoch’s empire in Britain. There’s even been talk of the end of the empire. Some of that has spilled over as far as our shores – where it all began for the Murdochs. In Australia, News Limited market dominance is impressive: by its own admission, News Limited controls 70 per cent of Australia’s newspaper readership market. The empire’s flagship publication is The Australian, our only national masthead and – though a perennial loss-maker – a key weapon in News Limited’s arsenal of influence. In ‘Bad News’, Robert Manne, one of Australia’s leading essayists, investigates how The Australian shapes debate in this country.

Featuring

Robert Manne

Robert Manne’s many books include Making Trouble and The Words That Made Australia (as co-editor). He is the author of three Quarterly Essays, In Denial, Sending Them Home and Bad News. He is a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at La Trobe University. ... Read more

Sophie Black

Sophie Black is a journalist, broadcaster, writer and editor with a focus on the environment, politics, media, the internet and parenting in the end times. She writes regular features and opinion for The Guardian and The Monthly. Black has worked in senior management across cultural and media organi... Read more

Location

The Wheeler Centre

176 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

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The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of the land on which we work. We pay our respects to the people of the Kulin Nation and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, past and present.